Transpulmonary Indicator Dilution: An Alternative Approach for Hemodynamic Monitoring

The management of critically ill patients often requires invasive hemodynamic monitoring, in particular if measurements of cardiac output are deemed necessary [1]. Although numerous non-invasive methods for assessment of cardiac output have been suggested [2], none of these have been proved to be a reliable tool in intensive care medicine [2, 3]. Thus, thermodilution using a pulmonary artery catheter is still the “gold standard” and is routinely used in most institutions for assessment of cardiac output. The pulmonary artery catheter is also used to measure pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PCWP), which is considered an index of left ventricular (LV) preload and constitutes one of the major parameters for the guidance of volume therapy.